In Cali, Colombia, the program Abriendo Caminos (Opening Roads) aims to reduce the
number of homicides, injuries, and other harms in neighborhoods with high levels of
interpersonal and group violence. The program started between 2018 and 2020 as an
adaptation of the “Cure Violence”2 model with the implementation of a pilot in two
neighborhoods with informal settlements. Based on the positive results identified
through an impact evaluation, the program has since expanded to 40 areas of the city
and neighboring municipalities. Abriendo Caminos is run by Fundación Alvaralice and
is an important component of Compromiso Valle, a region-wide collaborative initiative
between the private sector, civil society, and public entities aiming to close inequality
gaps and provide opportunities for young people with high levels of exclusion. Elements
of the Abriendo Caminos model have been incorporated into the security strategies of
Cali and the city of Palmira, and the project has partnered with local governments,
advancing a forward-looking model of private–public partnerships to promote safety.
The program operates by equipping community mediators to target, mediate, and deescalate
local conflicts before they devolve into cycles of violence. It also equips social
workers to support the youth at highest risk of engaging in violence or displaying
violent behavior by helping them access available city services and carrying out
community-based activities and campaigns to shift attitudes towards violent behaviors.
The success of the program, as well as its positive evaluation and results, led the new
city administration to incorporate it into its recently launched Public Security and
Citizen Coexistence Policy7, emphasizing the importance of partnerships between
public, civil society, and private sector in the promotion of safety, and of investing in
evaluations. The recently elected local government has started a violence-prevention
program that includes community mediators in the most violent areas of the city,
building on the results of Abriendo Caminos.